Adolescent Identification and Academic Achievement: Reporting the Awareness of Similarity to Role Models

Individualized identification grids were administered to 16-18-year-oM males (N = 49) in order to chart the complex of identifications they have established with their parents, peers, and school personnel It was hypothesized that pat-terns of identification with particular acquaintances wouM vary as a function of individuals ' level of academic achievement. The results o f this study indicated that high achievers identified more often with their liked school personnel than did low achievers, and more Often with their peers and school personnel than with their parents. Low achievers were shown to most often identify with their mothers and peers. Arguments for viewing identification as a cog-nitive process based upon reciprocal interpersonal involvement and mediated by situation-specific competence are presented